Intentions to Marry, 1901 South Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840420, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, September 22 2025

1901 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 749

District of Gore Quarter ending 30 September 1901 Registrar Theodore King

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
22	8 July 1901	John Patton Grace Forbes	John Patton Grace Forbes 💍 1901/3700	Bachelor Spinster	Engine driver	28 24	Otama Otama	3 days 20 yrs	Residence of Mrs Forbes at Otama	01/4170	8 July 1901	Rev Peter Ramsay Presbyterian Clergyman Knapdale
23	20 July 1901	John Alfred Hellier Margaret Christina Reid Thomson	John Alfred Hellier Margaret Christina Reid Thomson 💍 1901/3712	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 21	Gore Gore	15 yrs 20 yrs	Residence of Mrs J G Thomson Waikaka Siding	01/4164	20 July 1901	Rev Andrew Gray Presbyterian Clergyman Gore
24	22 July 1901	William Ferguson Rose Winifred Jackways	William Ferguson Rosa Winifred Jackways 💍 1901/3867	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	42 23	Gore Gore	8 yrs 20 yrs	English Church Gore	01/4403	22 July 1901	Rev J L A Kayll English Church Clergyman Gore
25	25 July 1901	August Svenson Elsie Emma Boothman	August Svenson Elsie Emma Boothman 💍 1901/3692	Bachelor Spinster	Coal miner	24 21	Gore Gore	3 days 8 weeks	Residence of John Hansen Albany St Gore	01/4168	25 July 1901	Rev Hugh Beggs Wesleyan Clergyman Gore
26	31 July 1901	Charles Cleut Mary Nash	Charles Clent Mary Nash 💍 1901/5041	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	33 29	Gore Gore	3 days 3 weeks	R.C. Church Gore	01/5593	31 July 1901	Rev P. ODonnell R C Clergyman Gore
27	6 August 1901	Sydney Walter Cooke Jemima Isabella Dickson	Sydney Walter Cooke Jemima Isabella Dickson 💍 1901/3699	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	26 24	Gore Gore	3 days 22 yrs	Congregational Church Gore	01/4169	6 August 1901	Rev. Geo. Hervey Congregational Clergyman Gore
28	6 August 1901	Alexander Campbell King Helenor Ann Sutherland	Alexander Campbell King Helenor Ann Sutherland 💍 1901/3713	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	25 23	Gore Gore	2 1/2 yrs 3 yrs	Presbyterian Manse East Gore	01/4165	6 August 1901	Rev Andrew Gray Presbyterian Clergyman Gore
29	13 September 1901	James Craig Marion Youngson	James Craig Marion Youngson 💍 1901/19	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	27 37	Riversdale Riversdale	6 yrs 3 yrs	Presbyterian Manse Gore	01/4166	13 September 1901	Rev Andrew Gray Presbyterian Clergyman Gore

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1901. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).